Dear DTP members,
I just wanted to share our family's story about our beautiful Mum and her fight with dementia.
Following our Dad's passing in 1985 (only a couple of years after their retirement) our Mum found herself living on her own in a first floor flat.
Although obviously extremely sad at not having her hubby of 50 years around any more, she kept herself very busy with a clutch of grandchildren from her ever expanding family (there were seven of we kids... 5 of them girls).
Her time in the war as a barrage balloon operator tempered her into a very strong and fiercely independent woman who found little problem fending for herself over the next couple of decades.
We first noticed mum was having problems in 2011.
I had seen one of her bank statements where it's quite obvious, by the number of direct debits she had set up, she was being targeted and scammed by unscrupulous 'chuggers'.
The first thing I did was become joint account holder with Mum and then cancelled all but two to of the 12 plus direct debits amounting to £70 a month.
The next thing was to purchase a True Call phone call minder system so that we could field incoming calls from family and friends against unknown numbers.
A wonderful product which I can update online to add, delete and update callers.
Soon after this my sisters and I decided to install two 'granny cams'.
These were located in the kitchen and the living room.
They weren't the best but at least we could keep an eye on her and phone if we saw any problems.
About 18 months later we updated the cameras to the Google Nest products and installed a third camera in the hallway which covered her front door. We could see and record anyone being let in by mum who was an unwelcome guest.
These Nest cameras became invaluable as time went on and mum's condition worsened.
On one particular night after mum had entered her room I heard a loud bang coming from Mum's bedroom which was received by the hallway camera.
I was so concerned at this unusual loud noise that I decided to drive over to Mum's and check things out.
I found mum on the floor in her bedroom, dazed but otherwise ok.
If it hadn't been for the hall camera picking up that sound mum would have been on the floor all night and nobody would have known until the morning.
It was agreed with my sister's that we install a final camera in Mum's bedroom which only my sister's had access to.
They would alert me if there were any issues.
This last camera has probably been the most valuable in the recent months.
The Nest cameras have alerted us to mum having a gastrointestinal bleed which resulted in her being hospitalized for a while in 2018.
As mum's condition has deteriorated over the years and months we have installed various other equipment which can be accessed remotely.
I put in in a Broadlink Pro which can learn various remote controls for the television and DVD player so we can change channels for Mum and turn on and off DVD player.
It also controls wall switches to allow us to turn on the bedside lamp and the sideboard lamp in the front room.
I also installed a mini PC which its behind the television and has Skype installed on it. We used this for a few months and could communicate with Mum which was especially nice for two of my sister's who live in Canada.
I set up Mum's Skype so that it would auto answer any of us calling her which meant she didn't have to fiddle around with any complicated controls.
It is also useful to flash up on the TV the occasional note suggesting mum has a drink or goes to the toilet.
I have even used it to ask her to place the receiver back on the phone correctly as sometimes she doesn't which obviously means we can't call her.
Mum's hearing is particularly bad and although she has hearing aids she either refuses to have them and most often takes them out.
We therefore had to buy a new phone with a volume booster just so that she can hear us when we call.
Local council social services have fitted handrails in various places of necessity within her flat.
They have also installed a door alarm in case she wanders out of the flat.
They also no installed a bed occupancy sensor which they monitor between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. so if mum is out of her bed for more than 30-minutes we will get a phone call.
However the Nest cameras have zones which I have set up so if mum does leave her bedroom anyone of the family will be alerted and we can then keep tabs on her through the nest app and go over if necessary.
There are two Nest smoke/CO detectors in in the kitchen and hallway which are also linked to the app so should anything happen we get alerted via the app even if mum didn't hear them.
I also installed a Nest thermostat because Mum got into the habit of turning it all the way up or all the way down because she wasn't sure what she was to do.
We can control the temperature of her flat remotely and if she does play with the dial I have set it so it is locked between 18 and 25 degrees.
This means she would neither be too hot or too cold.
This Nest unit it also allows us to set the times for water heating.
The most recent tweak I have done is to download an app called MacroDroid.
This permits me to create a series of actions from a single trigger.
In this particular case if there is a nest alert from the bedroom because Mum has got herself out of bed then the macrodroid programme will be able to turn on the bedside lamp automatically within 10 seconds, ensuring Mum's not fumbling in the dark for light switches (there are several auto PIR sensor lights dotted around which switch on as she passes and stay on for 15-20 seconds).
One of my sisters, who is Mum's principal carer, is retired now but was in occupational therapy most of her working life.
She has been an absolute godsend in organising the correct care company who come in in twice a day now (the family deal with mornings and evenings these days).
Ideally Mum could do with a full-time live-in carer but her local council don't offer this option.
We are trying to keep mum in her home which is the last thing still familiar to her.
Mum will be 98 in January.
Thanking you for all your wonderful work,
M
I just wanted to share our family's story about our beautiful Mum and her fight with dementia.
Following our Dad's passing in 1985 (only a couple of years after their retirement) our Mum found herself living on her own in a first floor flat.
Although obviously extremely sad at not having her hubby of 50 years around any more, she kept herself very busy with a clutch of grandchildren from her ever expanding family (there were seven of we kids... 5 of them girls).
Her time in the war as a barrage balloon operator tempered her into a very strong and fiercely independent woman who found little problem fending for herself over the next couple of decades.
We first noticed mum was having problems in 2011.
I had seen one of her bank statements where it's quite obvious, by the number of direct debits she had set up, she was being targeted and scammed by unscrupulous 'chuggers'.
The first thing I did was become joint account holder with Mum and then cancelled all but two to of the 12 plus direct debits amounting to £70 a month.
The next thing was to purchase a True Call phone call minder system so that we could field incoming calls from family and friends against unknown numbers.
A wonderful product which I can update online to add, delete and update callers.
Soon after this my sisters and I decided to install two 'granny cams'.
These were located in the kitchen and the living room.
They weren't the best but at least we could keep an eye on her and phone if we saw any problems.
About 18 months later we updated the cameras to the Google Nest products and installed a third camera in the hallway which covered her front door. We could see and record anyone being let in by mum who was an unwelcome guest.
These Nest cameras became invaluable as time went on and mum's condition worsened.
On one particular night after mum had entered her room I heard a loud bang coming from Mum's bedroom which was received by the hallway camera.
I was so concerned at this unusual loud noise that I decided to drive over to Mum's and check things out.
I found mum on the floor in her bedroom, dazed but otherwise ok.
If it hadn't been for the hall camera picking up that sound mum would have been on the floor all night and nobody would have known until the morning.
It was agreed with my sister's that we install a final camera in Mum's bedroom which only my sister's had access to.
They would alert me if there were any issues.
This last camera has probably been the most valuable in the recent months.
The Nest cameras have alerted us to mum having a gastrointestinal bleed which resulted in her being hospitalized for a while in 2018.
As mum's condition has deteriorated over the years and months we have installed various other equipment which can be accessed remotely.
I put in in a Broadlink Pro which can learn various remote controls for the television and DVD player so we can change channels for Mum and turn on and off DVD player.
It also controls wall switches to allow us to turn on the bedside lamp and the sideboard lamp in the front room.
I also installed a mini PC which its behind the television and has Skype installed on it. We used this for a few months and could communicate with Mum which was especially nice for two of my sister's who live in Canada.
I set up Mum's Skype so that it would auto answer any of us calling her which meant she didn't have to fiddle around with any complicated controls.
It is also useful to flash up on the TV the occasional note suggesting mum has a drink or goes to the toilet.
I have even used it to ask her to place the receiver back on the phone correctly as sometimes she doesn't which obviously means we can't call her.
Mum's hearing is particularly bad and although she has hearing aids she either refuses to have them and most often takes them out.
We therefore had to buy a new phone with a volume booster just so that she can hear us when we call.
Local council social services have fitted handrails in various places of necessity within her flat.
They have also installed a door alarm in case she wanders out of the flat.
They also no installed a bed occupancy sensor which they monitor between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. so if mum is out of her bed for more than 30-minutes we will get a phone call.
However the Nest cameras have zones which I have set up so if mum does leave her bedroom anyone of the family will be alerted and we can then keep tabs on her through the nest app and go over if necessary.
There are two Nest smoke/CO detectors in in the kitchen and hallway which are also linked to the app so should anything happen we get alerted via the app even if mum didn't hear them.
I also installed a Nest thermostat because Mum got into the habit of turning it all the way up or all the way down because she wasn't sure what she was to do.
We can control the temperature of her flat remotely and if she does play with the dial I have set it so it is locked between 18 and 25 degrees.
This means she would neither be too hot or too cold.
This Nest unit it also allows us to set the times for water heating.
The most recent tweak I have done is to download an app called MacroDroid.
This permits me to create a series of actions from a single trigger.
In this particular case if there is a nest alert from the bedroom because Mum has got herself out of bed then the macrodroid programme will be able to turn on the bedside lamp automatically within 10 seconds, ensuring Mum's not fumbling in the dark for light switches (there are several auto PIR sensor lights dotted around which switch on as she passes and stay on for 15-20 seconds).
One of my sisters, who is Mum's principal carer, is retired now but was in occupational therapy most of her working life.
She has been an absolute godsend in organising the correct care company who come in in twice a day now (the family deal with mornings and evenings these days).
Ideally Mum could do with a full-time live-in carer but her local council don't offer this option.
We are trying to keep mum in her home which is the last thing still familiar to her.
Mum will be 98 in January.
Thanking you for all your wonderful work,
M